Kaleb's Artwork 2012

From of my favorite pieces Kaleb made in 2nd grade this year including a scarecrow water color painting, a stuffed pumpkin, a clay snowman, and sunflower painting.

This blog

This blog is dedicated to my 3 amazing, ornery, full of life boys.  They fill our lives full of stories and memories who when I share with people, I always get the same response "I hope you are writing these things down".  So....I am starting a blog tracking life's adventures to carry these treasures of today for years to come....I love you Kaleb, Blake, and Braden.

2nd Grade and PreSchool Graduation 2012

Today we cross another milestone on the Hansen paths of life.....

Kaleb's last day of 2nd grade, Blake's last day of Pre-School.  I can't believe we will have 2 in school next year.  Brings tears of happiness that the daycare bill will be a little bit smaller, but tears of sadness that my babies are growing up!  Blake is so excited to go to Kaleb's school and he already informed me "Mom, they have a principal's office".  How does he even know what that is!?  Thank you Grandma Judy for the graduation gifts!!  We celebrated with a program at Miss Heather's.  The "Bug Lady" came and presented many interesting creatures!!  Daddy was even lucky enough to have one of them put on his shirt (GIANT Madagascar Hissing Cockroach!)  Snakes, tarantulas, scorpions, and millipedes, just to name a few.   Blake was presented with a PreSchool diploma and they concluded the night with 2 songs that brought tears to our eyes with "How I Wonder What I'll Be", too soon they will be all grown up and what will they be?...anything they want to be!  ...see the movie above...too cute!  What a wonderful PreSchool they have!!

Kaleb's Fishing Trips 2012

Fishing with Grandpa Hansen.

One of Kaleb's favorite things to do is go fishing with Grandpa Hansen.  They get up REALLY early and drive to Marion to fish.  Recently, Grandpa Hansen was able to attend Kaleb's 2nd grade field trip to The Great Plains Nature Center in Wichita.  They got to fish there and I'm sure Kaleb was an expert on how to do it!  Look at the whopper of a fish he caught recently at Marion!

Kelcie's Wedding May 19 2012

 Kelcie's Wedding....what a beautiful day.  Kelcie was gorgeous!  I couldn't have been more proud of my 3 handsome little boys.  Kaleb (8) lit candles, very professionally of course, Blake (5) was the ring bearer, accompanied by adorable little twins, and Braden (3) carried the sign announcing the bride's arrival!  He bounced down the aisle, with a huge smile, meeting "Big Riley" at the front with a "high five".  My grandmother, because of Alzheimer's, couldn't be physically with us at the wedding, so Kelcie's bouquet adorned her picture.  I was a nervous mommy, with 3 little boys under the age of 8 helping with pretty significant parts, however, they just stepped up and did exactly what they were supposed to do!  I wasn't sure if they would back out or run frantically down the aisle, however, I had so many compliments of how grown up they were.  A windy day still captured precious pictures, and the night was ended with us dancing the night away.  Jason and I were slow dancing and Blake ran by and caught our eye.  He smiled, and then proceeded to run to Grandma, telling her "YOUR daughter is dancing with MY daddy!"  He then showed her.... "She has his arms around his neck like this...."  Kaleb was the most surprising with his choreographed dance moves and song requests!  (Notice his Mr. Cool "Popped Collar"!  ...and yes, those are Braden's crazy dance moves on the floor!

Braden's Trucks

Fun with Grandpa

Braden loves trucks....he has a great big wooden truck, that was his Uncle Derek's.

He likes to haul big loads like Grandpa...see above!!?  I don't think that is legal.

He even ties his load down, just like Granpa, except he uses rubberbands! Too cute!

Braden's Boots May 2012

So...Every month at Miss Heather's, the boys created a journal.  May asked them to draw a picture of what they would like to be when they grown up.  Blake drew a baseball player and Braden drew a cowboy of course!  Although, with the picture above, he might be a rockstar!  

So those of you that know Braden, know that he maybe should have been born in the wild, wild west.  He loves anything that has to do with farming and westerns, including horses, cowboy boots, cowboy hats, ropes, tractors, barns, hay, etc.  In 2 weeks he will be in my cousin's wedding, wearing (of course)...cowboy boots.  We finally made a successful trip to Wichita yesterday to find these new, shiny boots.  Let me tell you what happened to his old boots.  Braden wore boots almost all winter (meanwhile I'm still trying to convince him that the shorts/boots combo is not quite the style we want to pull off this summer).  These boots have been shined several times on a trip with Grandpa to visit Rosie, the shoe shine man.  So one sunny, warm day recently, the 3 boys were happily playing outside.  In the midst of their fun, Blake comes in soaking wet, from head to toe, soaking wet.  Immediately my mind starts wondering "Where did they get the water?" as I know the hose faucet is too difficult for them to turn on, and I didn't see them come in the house for any water....hmmmmmm.  Meanwhile, Braden brings up said boot, with said water to dump on Blake's head.  Yes, he was carrying this water in his boot!  So as any mom of 3 boys does, I start investigating.  I'm watching the water being poured on Blake's head in my peripheral vision as I notice the water isn't clear, but rather green, and slimy.  It hadn't rained in 2 weeks, so this water was gross.  Gross, gross water in the green turtle..ya know, the ones supposed to be for sandboxes?  So problem #1: Middle son covered in gross, slimy, green water, did I mentioned he was STINKY!?  Problem #2: Boots are full of this gross, slimy, green, stinky water also.  Even though we dumped out the boots and attempted to clean and dry them, the sealant on the bottoms has now come unglued.  Grandma attempted to re-glue the boots, however to much more wear and tear, the glue is not holding anymore....hence the NEW BOOTS for the wedding.  Now....to convince him he is not riding a horse in the wedding.  Next story :)